St. F.X. alumni urge profs to go back to class

About 100 St. Francis Xavier University students marched through campus on Wednesday demanding the school’s faculty and administration return to the table. (AARON BESWICK / Truro Bureau)

ANTIGONISH — The St. Francis Xavier University Alumni Association has called on the faculty to return to work.

“We hope the faculty union executive will consider continuing classes while negotiations continue so as to not disrupt students’ academic careers,” the association said in a letter it sent to alumni Tuesday night.

“As St. F.X. alumni, we know the university is committed to resolving this issue as quickly as possible, minimizing any impact to the entire St. F.X. community and, most importantly, students. This strike will hurt St. F.X., both in reputation and future recruitment.”

The letter was signed by alumni association president Shawn Monahan and administration vice-president Tim Lang.

The reaction from the faculty association, which wasn’t officially sent a letter, was swift.

Union president Peter McInnis said Wednesday that it was “inappropriate” for the alumni association to join with the administration in producing the letter. He also said faculty members who are alumni weren’t sent the letter.

With regards to the call for faculty to return to the classroom, McInnis said the faculty taught through last fall’s negotiations, even though it was without a contract for several months.

“The idea we go back right now without a contract is completely not on the table,” McInnis said. “That is what the strike is meant to do, to bring the administration back to the table with a reasonable offer.”

In a phone interview Wednesday, Monahan said the alumni were not siding with either the administration or the faculty union. He said they were only advocating for a settlement.

A conference call meeting of the university’s board of governors was held Wednesday afternoon. The content of that call could not be verified, though McInnis said faculty members participating in it would be expressing their lack of confidence in Ramsay Duff, the university’s vice-president of finance and operations.

Duff has been leading the negotiations with the faculty.

Those talks fell through last week after four failed attempts at conciliation. The 400-member faculty association hit the picket lines on Monday morning.

For his part, Duff said he hoped the faculty would return to the bargaining table. He would not offer predictions on when he thought a settlement might be reached.

The St. F.X. Students’ Union, meanwhile, has grown frustrated with both parties. President Nick Head-Petersen led about 100 students on a march through campus Wednesday afternoon chanting slogans calling for both sides to return to the negotiating table.

“It’s getting serious,” Head-Petersen said. “Students don’t know when they’re going to get back to class, what their term is going to look like.”

When asked why he thought only a small fraction of the university’s 4,000 students showed up for the march, Head-Petersen said about 30 per cent of students had gone home since the strike began.

The union is demanding better pay — about 10 per cent more over a four-year contract — more job security and benefits for its membership.

The administration has been offering about a 6.92 per cent wage increase over four years.